The United States, diplomatically isolated after casting a vote against a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, came under growing criticism Saturday.
The United States, diplomatically isolated after casting the sole vote against a United Nations resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, came under growing criticism Saturday by a number of governments, human rights groups and aid organizations that warned of catastrophic consequences for civilians in the war-torn territory.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington and others have floated as a potential governing body for postwar Gaza, said the veto Friday was “a mark of shame that will follow the United States for many years.” He called the United States “aggressive and unethical.”
Nicolas de Rivière, the French ambassador to the United Nations, called for a “new immediate and lasting humanitarian truce,” and without naming its ally, the United States, lamented that the Security Council had “failed once again.”
“We do not see any contradiction between the fight against terrorism and the protection of civilians,” he said.
The diplomatic tensions came as the Israeli military bombarded the Gaza Strip from the air, ground and sea Saturday.
The United States has stood by Israel as criticism over the war in Gaza has grown, but senior officials in the Biden administration have also displayed what appears to be a growing impatience over mass casualties inflicted on Gaza’s population. More than 15,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its retaliatory war in response to the Oct. 7 killings of 1,200 Israelis by Hamas and other groups.
Among the strongest warnings came from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who has said that Israel faced “strategic defeat” if Palestinian civilians were not better protected.
At the same time, the United States continues to dispatch weapons and ammunition to Israel. Two U.S. officials told The New York Times on Saturday that the State Department was pushing through a government sale of 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition valued at hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel, bypassing a congressional review process that is generally required for arms sales to any foreign nation.
The Defense Department confirmed in an online post that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had used an emergency declaration late Friday to expedite the sale.
Using the procedure to bypass Congress appears to show that administration officials are aware of the growing furor among U.S. lawmakers and ordinary citizens over Israel’s use of American arms in its war in Gaza.
